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Antigua Chicken Bus

Greetings from Antigua…wish you were here!

Photo taken outside of my hotel in Antigua of the oncoming Chicken Bus.

They come in all sorts of colors. Each color marks its destination and is a riot of colors. Old American school buses which were once painted that brightly colored orange and that forever rests in my childhood memories, have been sent to Guatemala after they can no longer legally be used in the States. Once in Guatemala, they receive their magical paint job and hit the road. I believe the name came from the fact that they are slow and often carry chickens along with the passengers. But I cannot be certain. What I am certain of is my somewhat of a fetish with the chicken buses. I stood outside on the corner waiting to capture each and every colored chicken bus until the stinky smell drove me away.

That’s a nice looking bus. It seems to be kept up a lot better than the ones I used to see in Nicaragua. I rode many a mile with someone sitting on the seat next to me with a cage full of chickens on their lap. I even flew once (on a DC3) with a chicken pecking me through the wire.

I would love to go to Nicaragua. Have you written about it on your blog? That is quite a story about the chickens on the plane. I think I’d pass out! (I don’t like small planes to begin with). Makes a wonderful story!